Fresh leadership wrangles break out at KRU as board "suspends" Sasha Mutai

A fresh leadership wrangle has reared its ugly head at the Kenya Rugby Union, with a hastily held board meeting on Thursday evening “suspending" Chairman Alexander Sasha Mutai.

However, in a quick rejoinder, Mutai laughed off his purported ouster noting that it is "corruption fighting back".

When asked on the legitimacy of a letter seen by Citizen Digital, purporting his suspension, Sasha retorted: " Attempted coup by Olendo[Ray]. Board meeting is on Monday. Today an unprocedural meeting was called by Olendo in contravention of the KRU Constitution," he said, adding, " I'm not suspended as it can't be done by the board in that way, only through the Legal and Disciplinary Committee."

The board claimed that Mutai's suspension takes effect immediately pending the hearing and determination of a motion of no confidence, which is scheduled for discussion by the Union's affiliates at the 2025 Annual General Meeting set for March 24 2025.

This is the second time Mutai, who rose to the helm of KRU leadership on March 29 2023, is facing attempts to remove him from office. A similar plot was mooted last year but never saw the light of the day.

Mutai’s remarks point to a possible legal or procedural dispute over the board's authority to effect the suspension. This raises questions about the internal governance structure of KRU and how disciplinary actions against top officials should be handled.

With the AGM scheduled for March 24 2025, the fate of Mutai’s chairmanship now rests in the hands of KRU affiliates. If the motion of no confidence is upheld, it could lead to a leadership shake-up within the Union.

The infights comes at a time the rugby union is making strides on and off the pitch with sponsorship deals from telecommunication firm Safaricom, through its mobile money transfer service M-Pesa in place.

On the pitch, the ladies team, Lionesses, at the weekend won the  HSBC Challenger Series in South Africa while Shujaa are back to the HSBC Series, albeit fighting to safeguard their spot.